Do you see the recession as an opportunity or are you panicking?

The Dow was down about 200 points earlier this week – is that bad or good? The Dow has been picking up fairly consistently over the past 6 weeks or so and this is probably just an “adjustment” rather than another freefall. Is the glass half empty or is it half full? Many people see the down economy as a time to hunker down, sell off their assets and bury the money in Mason jars or hide it inside their mainframe. But for those with the stomach for it, this down economy brings a lot of opportunities; a lot of bargains.

Any insurance organization looking to improve IT services can find a lot of good deals on hardware, services, and especially back office systems. However, most insurance organizations, because they are intrinsically risk averse, don’t want to spend the money now, but instead wait and see what happens. When things do turn around, they could find themselves behind the curve, rather than leading the way. A lot of companies are looking for band-aids for their IT problems, quick fixes to get them through the storm. Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.Rather than just repairing the mast and patching the hull on your ship, wouldn’t it be better to have a new, stronger, and more stable ship ready for sea when the storm subsides. Or, even better, fully prepared to weather the storm if it continues, and head out for the deadliest catch.

Another benefit to purchasing during a down economy is that as a mid-market carrier, you are likely to get a lot more attention from technology vendors and a better team now because you become a big fish in a little pond, and every customer is extremely important. Because you’re in more of a command position, you can negotiate better services and even more free upgrades because it also becomes an opportunity for the vendor to improve their product.

We’re all confident that the economy will turn around, it’s just a question of when. There are those “economic experts” that say September; those that say next Spring; and more that say Summer 2010. If any of them are right, its really not that long a period of time – about the same amount of time it takes to implement a system.

When it does, your agents, your customers, and most importantly, your prospects, will be there to move forward with you. So talk to technology vendors now, because just like the car companies, prices have come down and there are deals to be had.

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.